


She, Wolf

by Anonymous



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, Explicit Language, Family, Holidays, M/M, Pets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-16 22:48:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13063779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: in which the family feline goes missingNyx/Noctis. Alternate Reality. Timeskip!Noctis.





	She, Wolf

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JazzRaft](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JazzRaft/gifts).



> as per our annual holidays exchange :D 
> 
> For the prompt: "escaped pet finding mission"  
>   
> HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! *HUGGLES*  
> Here's to another year of crying and laughing in rarepair hell ^_^ <33  
> I will always be grateful to your friendship and support xx
> 
> A special shout out to the lovely chill folks aboard the SS NyxNoct, I hope you enjoy this, if you so happen to stumble across it :D

Early on, Noctis always thought Nyx’s penchant toward making cheerful understatements was a consequence of having a day job that involved constantly staring death in the eye.  He gradually amended that hypothesis when he realized the other galahdians he’d met were sensible and grounded and  _well-adjusted_ ; and started instead referring to those understatements as  _Nyx-isms_.  He never thought that this little quirk of Nyx’s, of being so unfazed by anything and everything could come back to haunt him.

Because when Selena opened the door of the Ulric household with a deadpan “the cat got out again,” Noctis interpreted it as the perfect opportunity to see more of Nyx’s village, to knock on doors and meet lifelong neighbours and coax embarrassing childhood stories out of old classmates to lord over the latter later. He had every reason to consider the possibility that the phrase ‘cat got out again’ translated to trudging through the dense undergrowth of a godforsaken jungle, and that  _Luche and Libertus were the anomalies_ , not Nyx. He even had ten years of experience amassed.

But he didn't.

For Noctis, nothing was inherently  _bothersome_  with Nyx's overall outlook on life.  Under the right circumstances his galahdian sensibilities made him hilariously entertaining and altogether too difficult to stay angry at for too long or say 'No' to.  Noctis had long ago accepted the fact that he had to be in this for the long haul if the thought of breaking up with him had not yet stuck even after three hours of this slow trek through hell. 

Admittedly, that was mostly due to the fact that he'd volunteered to accompany Nyx in the first place (to escape the scrutiny of the Ulric women) and that _logically_ , it would be a bad idea to break up with the only person capable of getting them out of this jungle alive.   _Alive, and_ —Noctis slapped a hand to the back of his neck, squishing another mosquito— _in one piece, relatively speaking_.  So far there had been a bandersnatch, a swarm of killer bees, a three-way fight between an alpha behemoth and a pair of bachelor males and a stampede of panicked mesmenir when the behemoths rolled right into a nearby watering hole.   While Noctis recorded everything on his phone in unrestrained amazement, Nyx just sighed and carried on with a shake of his head, as though inconvenienced. 

The jungle was  _stifling_  hot and sufficiently humid to the point that all Noctis had to protect himself from the elements was a soaked through tee and dirtied trousers beyond any of Ignis’ genius stain removal solutions. He’d ditched his jacket while running from the bandersnatch, and his boots could probably be salvageable if he used a chisel to carve them out of the thick layer of mud caked all over them.  Ahead of him Nyx soldiered on, unperturbed or possibly unaware of the sweat sluicing down his back, or the cloud of mosquitos shadowing them.  He’d left the house in nothing but board shorts and sandals, and Noctis didn’t know whether to be appalled or impressed. He _did_ know that he was a little turned on by the view of Nyx’s back muscles moving sinuously beneath taut skin while he hacked through low hanging vines and underbrush with a machete.  Small compensation for every second spent in this literal hell hole where everything that didn’t try to gore you tried to squish you flat.

_“Puss-puss-puss!  Fenny! Fenny where are you! Come on buddy, give us a kiss!”_

Nyx’s blade caught into a tree trunk and he grumbled out a curse, struggling to remove it.  Noctis snickered.

"Need a hand there, Bear Grylls?"

Nyx paused to give him the finger over his shoulder before carrying on.

Snickering, Noctis found a nearby rock, killed yet another mosquito and sat.  It occurred to him that he’d never seen a picture of the fabled Fenrir until now, but if Nyx’s dedication and Mrs Ulric’s frantic worry was anything to go by, then she had to be beautiful. Or so completely the opposite that she could be considered as such by an unbiased eye.

Nyx meanwhile, had dislodged the machete and was now hacking at the vines hanging overhead in frustration.

“P _uss-puss-puss!  Goddamn it Fen, I swear if you’re fucking with me again_ —”

“Why would you name your cat  _wolf_ , anyway?” Noctis asked, mostly to remind Nyx that as much as he loved animals _too_ , he wasn’t the only human out here suffering. He unstuck his t-shirt from his skin and blew into the collar.  Astrals, what he wouldn't give to dive headfirst into a lake or river.  After shoving Nyx in face first, of course. 

“ _Puss-puss-fucking puss_!”  Nyx threw his hands in the air, before turning to Noctis.  “I don’t know; why’d you name  _your_  dog  _Umbra_?”

“I didn’t; he’s  _Luna’s_  dog,” Noctis corrected. “And it  _suits_ ,” he added loyally, because Luna was one of his dearest friends (and  _totally not because Ravus was always looking for an excuse to spirit Umbra back to Tenebrae_ ).

“ _Exactly_ ,” Nyx agreed with a proud grin. “Because it  _suits_.”

He appeared poised to say more when his eyes widened at something behind Noctis.  Then he went unnaturally still.  Noctis found himself doing the same out of instinct.

Nyx forced a smile. “So...babe...”

That was  _not_  the tone Noctis liked hearing that term of endearment in. In fact, it was  _that_  exact tone that marked the start of every single one of their verbal spats.  He watched Nyx slowly lower his machete, showing his hands to whatever it was that had stepped into the fray.

“It’s right behind me, isn’t it?”

“I need you to stay very,  _very_  still and—”

Noctis heard a soft, high pitched mewl.  He felt something pawing softly at his back and realized he’d been had.  He glared at Nyx.

“You’re sleeping on the floor from now on.”

He bent to pick up the kitten.

“Babe—” Nyx tried, but Noctis ignored him, relishing in the kisses and licks the fluffball was bestowing him.  He pulled back a little with a chuckle to study Fen's colouring.

“You’re really something, you know that, Ulric…” he trailed off as he took in the blue spots that Prompto’s nature documentaries said would fade as maturity was reached; the two long whiskers,  _that weren’t at all characteristic of domestic felines_ , presently curling under his chin.

_I’m going to kill him._

“Babe…” Noctis said faintly, feeling all his insides liquefy and pool at the base of his spine. 

_I’m going to fucking kill him._

The coeurl cub continued to lick at his face, chuffing enthusiastically, but he barely felt it.  How could he, in light of the imminent death that was growling low and deadly just a few meters away?

 “…Fen’s not a  _cat_ , is she…”

“Uh…” Nyx inched carefully forward, until he was between Noctis and Fenrir.  “ _Technically_ —”

“ _She’s a fucking coeurl_!” Noctis hissed.

“She is  _family_ ,” Nyx corrected calmly, his back to Noctis.  “And if you want to get out of this alive, you’re going to gently,  _very gently_ , put the cub down." 

Noctis was already moving while Nyx spoke.  He watched the little thing scamper off into the direction of the growling. 

"Now what?"

"Now get ready to say hi." 

"Wha--"

Nyx dropped to the jungle floor just as the 167 kg blur of navy blue killer instinct lunged over him, slamming right into Noctis and knocking all the air out of his lungs as it pinned him to the ground.  Immobilized by fear, all he could focus on were the razor sharp teeth, the little bits of saliva dripping down canines designed to crunch through bone and sinew.  It had to be Nyx’s influence rubbing off on him, because he could humorously picture David Attenborough narrating his death.

 _The jaw of the couerl has a bite force of 1,000 pounds per square inch, capable of snapping necks of prey larger than itself.  The absence of teeth between the molars and the canines allows the animal to hold on tight to even the slipperiest of prey:_ politicians _—_

A particularly large droplet of drool landed square in between Noctis’ eyes, snapping him out of it. Off to the side he heard Nyx sigh, completely unbothered by the fact that his fiancé was this close to being mauled to death. 

“She’s waiting for you to say hi.”

“What.”

“ _Say_   _hi_.” Nyx repeated, right as the couerl pressed insistently on Noctis’ chest with two heavy paws. 

“— _hi_ ,” Noctis coughed, vision beginning to blur. The paw was withdrawn and as he sucked air into his lungs greedily, Fenrir licked the side of his face, and bounded off, right into the waiting arms of Nyx who laughed as he was tackled into the dirt.

“Fucking little cunt! I  _knew_  you were hiding out there, you sack of  _shit_ —” went Nyx with a laugh, wrestling with the apex predator like she were little more than an oversized puppy.  Noctis dragged himself to his feet and crossed his arms, shaking his head at the two while the cub returned to  nuzzle at his feet.

“ _What the hell_  kind of childhood did you even  _have_ , Ulric?”

“ _The greatest_ ,” Nyx wheezed, right before he was enveloped by an avalanche of fur and slobber. 


End file.
